Landscape Information
Designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney in 1871, two years after the creation of the West Park System, this 174-acre park—a Picturesque assemblage of lagoon, lawn, and trees—was originally named for Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas. After opening in 1879 the park was sectioned by a diagonal, linear thoroughfare: Ogden Avenue. Six years later Oscar Dubuis prepared a new plan and by the turn of the century, park embellishments included a conservatory, ornamental gardens, and the city’s first public bathing facility, replete with a swimming pool, outdoor gym, and a no-longer extant natatorium.
Upon becoming superintendent and landscape architect for all of Chicago's West Parks in 1905, Jens Jensen made design revision to the southern section of the park, introducing a semi-circular, ornamental entrance and soon after, a rectangular, seven-acre formal garden (1907). At the garden's western end, Jensen established a modest, oval water feature and at the eastern end, sited "Flower Hall,"—a Prairie-Style shelter attributed to architects Schmidt, Garden & Martin.
In the northern section of the park, the lagoon is fronted by a Georgian Revival Style field house, designed by architects Michaelsen & Rognstad (1928), and a public high school (1973) that occupies a former meadow originally designed by Jensen.
Following the advocacy efforts of local students the park was renamed in 2020 in honor of abolitionists Anna and Frederick Douglass.
Douglass Park is a contributing feature of the Historic Resources of the Chicago Park District listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 and the Chicago Park Boulevard System Historic District listed in 2018.
